The US imperative of security at any cost after the ouster of the Taliban created an atmosphere of absolute impunity among Afghan authorities and strongmen, who could get away with murder, torture and all other possible human rights abuses, HRW reports.

The report is based on 125 interviews with the HRW taken “victims
of abuse and their family members, as well as witnesses,
government officials, community elders, journalists, rights
activists, United Nations officials and members of Afghan and
international security forces” starting from August 2012.

The document combines facts about eight Afghan strongmen who
could get away with human rights abuse and other crimes for years
due to strong links with law enforcement, intelligence, and
American military and occupation authorities.

The fall of the Taliban government in late 2001 opened way to
unprecedented debauchery in Afghanistan, when justice was
violated not by terrorists or extremists, but by high-ranking
Afghan officials and government forces or armed groups under
their command.

Abductions, kidnapping, illegal detentions, extrajudicial
executions, rape, robbery and coldblooded murder of civilians are
only a fraction of the brutal crimes committed for years by
omnipotent bureaucrats under Karzai’s administration and armed
militia warlords. Afghan law enforcement has been reported of
using torture systematically.

“The previous Afghan government and the United States enabled
powerful and abusive individuals and their forces to commit
atrocities for too long without being held to account,” said
Phelim Kine, HRW deputy Asia director. “The United States,
which helped install numerous warlords and strongmen after the
overthrow of the Taliban, should now lead an international effort
to support the new government to remove serious human rights
abusers from their ranks.”

The country has been enduring conditions of total terror and
lawlessness, but the Afghan officials responsible for this were
acting in full connivance with the American occupation
authorities, so nothing could possibly bring these individuals
and their subordinates to justice.

“Officially, the United States has backed anti-corruption
measures, while at the same time reportedly protecting officials
accused of corruption who have been deemed vital to the war
effort,” the report said, claiming that even the US Special
Forces closely cooperated with various strongmen notorious for
their brutality.

“Initiatives ostensibly undertaken to curb corruption and
other abuses have had virtually no impact, for the same reasons
there has been no progress tackling impunity in other
areas,” the report said.

The outcome of these policies has been predictable rise of
support for the Taliban units and other anti-government armed
forces.

Ordinary Afghans could only dream that one day their offenders
could be held accountable for their crimes, while “The rise
of abusive political and criminal networks was not
inevitable,” the report said.

“The Afghan government and its supporters should recognize
that insecurity comes not only from the insurgency, but from
corrupt and unaccountable forces having official backing,”
Kine said.

According to Transparency International, Afghanistan remains one
of the most corrupt countries in the world.

“Afghanistan’s international allies have exacerbated the
problem by prioritizing short-term alliances with bad actors over
long-term reforms. It’s time for this pathology to end,”
Kine said.

Human Rights Watch is urging the Afghan government to
“investigate all allegations of abuse by Afghan security
forces, and remove from office and appropriately prosecute
officials and commanders implicated in serious abuses.” The
irregular armed groups should be disbanded by the Afghan Ministry
of Interior and hold accountable for crimes they have committed.

“The informal nature of militias can make it difficult to
establish who has ultimate command responsibility for their
actions,” the report says.

The US government should provide full support, including a
financial one, to help prosecute those Afghans responsible for
gross human rights violations and bring them to justice.

“Kabul and its foreign supporters need to end their toxic
codependency on strongmen to give Afghanistan reasonable hope of
a viable, rights-respecting strategy for the country’s
development,” Kine said.

Afghanistan’s new President Ashraf Ghani, who is planning to
visit the US later on in March, declared that his government is
not going tolerate use of torture within state structures. Ghani
has thanked the HRW for the report, but left personalized
allegations against government officials unattended.